As I began this 366-day BC craft beer project, I couldn’t help but think of the Beatles song ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’. I knew that for me to succeed, I’d have to lean on my network a little and take advantage of any brews offered to me. Cousin Sip came up big again when she offered me a beer with dinner yesterday. I had never tried a Nelson Brewing product before, so this was a nice introduction.

The Face Plant Winter Ale is organically made, as is the entire Nelson Brewing line. According to the brewery, the beer “tastes best with every additional foot of fresh powder that falls in the mountains… and is the perfect treat after a long day on the slopes.” A line like that makes me want to take up skiing again and see how accurate the statement is. That is, until they follow it up with “Careful, the name says it all!”

While it wasn’t my favourite Winter Ale, I have nothing bad to say about it either. It seemed to lack the chocolate notes I’ve come to expect from Winter Ales, but I don’t think that detracted from the experience. The beer comes in at 6.5%, but doesn’t taste as strong as the number warns, which is always a good thing.

At first, I read this beer’s name as ‘Face Palm’ and have had to look very closely to see it’s actually ‘Face Plant’. I have to say that I’d appreciate the ‘Face Palm’ name too, as an ironic look at life fails. Regardless, I hope the name isn’t a harbinger of things to come if you enjoy a few too many of the brew.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…